Assessment of Language

Children and LanguageBy Christina SiscoUniversity of Tulsa

Critical Issues in Assessment• Why do we test children?

• Who should conduct evaluations?

• When should evaluations take place?

Testing ChildrenThe Most Important Reason for Testing Is to Determine:

• What the child knows

• How the child knows it

• What we need to teach the child

• How we need to teach it

Conducting Evaluations Different People Are Given the Responsibility of Evaluation at Different Times in Different Places:

The Key Players in Assessment are:

• Children who are assessed• Teachers who assess• Audiences for assessment

information ( administrators and parents)

Conducting Evaluations (Cont’d)• Teachers, primary assessors• From there specific test givers are

brought in for standardized tests• BEST OPTION: SLP (speech/language pathology) with a background in deaf

education and who is skilled in ASL

Conducting Evaluations (Cont’d)General option:Team of specialists: diagnostics &

evaluation team *Do in-depth, diagnostic testing on

students referred both from within the school and outside of the school in the case where local school system lacks expertise

Conducting Evaluations (Cont’d)

Parents, Paraprofessional, and Teachers* generally consulted for parts of the evaluation process

Time of Evaluations

• Anytime

• Initially after referrals for screening purposes (enforced by IDEA)

• Student moves to a new school system or classroom

• Notice a lag in skills or in a certain area

Developing Language

• Hearing and Hearing Impaired Children Develop Language the Same Way

* Phonology * Morphology * Syntax

Authentic Assessments*Informal Procedures or Observations**Portfolio Assessment -uses observational evidence or products

completed by the student over time

*Rubric Assessment -uses a set of criteria to evaluate the quality of

a skill of one individual

Standardized Assessments*Formal Procedures and Tests*

* Rhode Island Test of Language Structures

* Grammatical Analysis of Elicited Language Sets

*Test grammar, vocabulary, pragmatics, etc.*

BIGGEST PROBLEM IS NORMS, MAINLY BASED ON HEARING CHILDREN !!!!

Assessment Definition*Always Performed on a Continuum Beginning with Informal and then Leading to Formal Testing*• The process of observing, recording,

and otherwise documenting the work children do and how they do it, as a basis for a variety of educational decisions that affect the child